help needed with '63 Dart GT trim removal

[MarcD]

I'm prepping my semi-beater for a two-stage rattle can paint job (local paint shop matched the paint in base coat and loaded it in rattle cans) and would like to remove as much of the trim as is practical. I understand a lot of the '63 GT trim is year/model specific and REALLY don't want to mess up any irreplaceable parts or break any 50 year old plastic clips.

I am going so far as to remove the front/rear windshields and it would be nice to not have to tape off the trim.

I did search the forum and found some pretty good tips; any more would be appreciated!

Thanks
Marc

 

[MarcD]

So far, I was able to remove the stainless trim that runs around the rear window and along the rear fender peaks. There are 3/8 pal nuts with rubber inserts accessible from the trunk under the fender peaks that thread onto clips in the two fender molding pieces. There are two-part "post and plate" plastic mounts that fit into holes in the body along the window around the rear roofline; the U-shaped molding has two pal nuts on the ends, then snaps onto the plastic mounts for the rest of the run.

The fender moldings came off easily with the nuts removed, and the U-shaped piece unsnapped easily from the plastic mounts with hand pressure on the inside edge once the end nuts were removed.

Now onto the die-cast trim artwork on the sail panels. With the headliner removed, there appear to be two posts that press into steel spring "sockets" accessible from the inside. I sprayed these with penetrant in hopes of loosening the fifty years of attachment and NOT breaking off the attaching posts!

Kind of a pain to do this, but there's just no way to do a decent paint job without removing this trim...

 

[VDART]

be very careful with those cast pieces-- very difficult to remove without breaking the studs.

no easy trick or remedy --slowly remove-- if you can brush off the crude-- accumilated to the studs.

work the nut loose a couple of turns -- tighten repeat-- this still might not work-- good luck ,Lawrence

 

[MarcD]

Your caution is well-advised; I already sheared off one of the three posts holding the "GT" hood emblem by moving too fast while removing the stamped metal nuts.

The sail panel trim on my '63 appears to have a different form of attachment. The three posts on each trim piece are visible from the inside with the headliner removed, and there are no nuts. Instead, it looks suspiciously like the trim method used by a certain Dearborn pony wherein there is a barrel shaped spring steel insert that pushes in from the outside and grips the post on the inside, with no obvious method of release.

Here's a few pics to better describe: